Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett said on the X platform that Democratic SEC Commissioner Jaime Lizarraga will resign on January 17, and after Trump takes office, there will be only one Democrat left on the committee, Caroline Crenshaw. That means there will be three vacant seats to fill by January 20. It also means that until those nominees are confirmed, the SEC's Republicans will have a 2-1 majority (Uyeda and Peirce are Republicans, Crenshaw is a Democrat). Trump may choose two Democrats who are more in line with his policies. Past precedent has been for minority parties to recommend minority candidates to the president, which makes the confirmation process easier. However, the president is not obligated to follow this advice. Mr. Trump can also choose to appoint independents to those positions. The rule is that the committee cannot have more than three members of the president's party. Jay Clayton, Mr. Trump's former chairperson in his first term, for example, was an independent.